


Carpe Diem

by mostlyanything19 (halfanapple)



Series: Community episode codas [1]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Episode: s01e03 Introduction to Film, Everything I Write Is Vaguely Queerplatonic And I Never Know Which Tag To Use, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 02:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30065520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfanapple/pseuds/mostlyanything19
Summary: "Your homework: I want you to swim in a lake and tell 10 people that you love them."
Relationships: Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: Community episode codas [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213304
Comments: 11
Kudos: 60





	Carpe Diem

**Author's Note:**

> Completely at random, I happened upon some gifsets yesterday and sat down to start watching Community. AND NOW LOOK AT ME TODAY.

The first time Troy tells Abed he loves him, it's in pursuit of a different goal entirely.

Who doesn't love an easy A, right? This is the easiest one Troy is _ever_ going to get.

"Cool class, huh?" says the dude walking next to him as they file out, and Troy snorts a laugh and nods.

"Sure, dude. I love you."

"I love _you_ ", says the dude and takes off for wherever he goes when he's not occupying the next table over in Professor Whitman's carpe diem class.

One down, nine to go. Troy rubs his hands together and takes off in search for further victims.

"I love you, Shirley!"

"I love you, Troy!" Shirley trills back at him, and turns right around and gives out her next one to the janitor walking by. She's gonna be done before you can blink at this rate.

Troy intends to be a little more methodical about this. He's got time. No need to rush it.

What he has also got, though, is several study buddies-slash-friends all taking the same class. Jeff, Annie, and Pierce are mutually checked off over lunch, as well as Britta, since she's there. And then his mom texts and he hopes the written word counts in this exercise but, either way, he thinks it must when it's your mother.

Easiest grade _ever_.

The sun's going down already when Troy finds himself slumped next to Abed on the couch in the study room, lazily shooting the shit. Troy inquires, at one point, how film class was, and he comes out of that experience pretty much ready and able to take an exam on it right here and now.

"Cool," he says, "cool cool cool", when Abed has run at last out of steam, and Abed nods in total agreement.

"Yeah", he says pretty happily. "Really cool."

He doesn't ask in return about how Jeff's new secret slacker class went. Abed never really asks stuff like this. You can tell him, if you're not the type to get offended that he never seems to think to inquire after it on his own. There was enough absurd shit going on there that Troy could spin a little story out of, and even if half the time all he gets for these attempts are blank stares, he's starting to figure out a feel for the things that Abed finds funny, and the things Troy needs to take to a different audience if he wants a laugh.

Although, what does he care about making random people laugh.

But oh, speaking of carpe class:

"Hey, Abed," Troy says contentedly, rolling his head to the side to look over at him. "I love you. I'm glad you're liking film class."

It's the most comfortable little moment; it's the most _real_ one he's done out of all the many love confessions flung around this day. Troy hadn't purposefully saved his last for Abed -- truth is, he'd kind of forgotten about the whole thing after lunch -- but it's good because Abed should get one; if _Pierce_ had got one, for christ's sake, there would be something very wrong if he didn't.

At least, that's what Troy thinks, and at least it _is_ a comfortable little moment until Troy becomes aware that Abed has kind of stopped moving and is kind of staring at him, and it's also kind of impossible to tell why.

Troy starts to flounder. Was that the wrong thing to say, somehow? Have none of the others gotten to Abed first, so that he knows what's going on? Does he think Troy is trying to -- what?

"It's, uh, it's--" _f_ _or accounting class_ , he sets up to explain, but then he never gets there because Abed finally stirs himself out of that strange look that got on his face; half surprise and half something much more furtive than that.

"Now _this_ is the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," he reports, as if he's keeping a tallied list somewhere in that head of his and whatever was ranking #1 so far just got crossed off in favor of ... Troy telling him he loves him.

...Oh.

"Really?"

"Definitely." Yeah, Abed absolutely has a list. For some reason.

Fleetingly, Troy wonders what else is on this list. Wonders if there's a lot. (Wonders if the almost stunned way Abed keeps on looking at him means that there isn't.)

"Oh. Well", he says, and just smiles, and just nods. "Good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

So Troy doesn't explain the homework thing. Who cares about that anyway? Troy leans back and joins Abed in watching Stella from statistics class fight the photocopier, and thinks, rather nonsensically:

 _Day? Seized_.

**Author's Note:**

> Also on tumblr [here.](https://mostlyanything19.tumblr.com/post/645808853061140480)


End file.
